Daily Archives: October 13, 2011

Brookfield property group has informed Occupy Wall Street of their intent to “clean” Liberty Square, our home and community. OWS views this as an attempt to evict over 500 peaceful and nonviolent protesters form Liberty Square, a tactic used to evict occupations in Austin, TX, Barcelona, Spain, and Bloombergville, NY.

OWS is a highly organized community with a sanitation working group that works tirelessly to keep our plaza clean. In a show of good will, OWS organized a full day of cleaning on Thursday, 13 October 2011 in response to Brookfield’s concerns.

We have no intention of leaving our park. We have spent weeks building a strong community of mutual aid and empowerment. The city government has brutalized and intimidated us and the media has attempted to censor and belittle our message. Despite these challenges, our message has been heard by millions around the world, and they are taking up the call to action by occupying spaces in their communities and opening them up to practice direct, horizontal, non-hierarchical democracy.

OWS invites Brookfield property group to re-clean Liberty Plaza in 1/3 increments starting at 7am as they have proposed. We will maintain physical presence in two thirds of our plaza at all times while they re-clean.

The possibility of eviction doesn’t simply threaten the immediate occupiers of Liberty Square. As a symbolic home to the growing movement against global injustice, any attempt to evict Liberty Square will be met with strong resistance by occupiers, community groups, local unions and organized labor, as well as individual supporters world wide.

“Another important way to make sure that Mayor Bloomberg hears from all of us is to call New York City’s complaint line at (212) NEW-YORK–that’s (212) 639-9675.

When you’re asked to, Press 1 for English, hit 0, and then wait through the message and hold music until you get an operator. Then tell the operator you’re calling in protest against the eviction of the Occupy Wall Street protesters from Zuccotti Park.

This New York call line has great systems for gathering, counting, and reporting calls, so our collective call will be heard.”

Please take a minute to read this, and please take action and spread the word far and wide.

Occupy Wall Street is gaining momentum, with occupation actions now happening in cities across the world.

But last night Mayor Bloomberg and the NYPD notified Occupy Wall Street participants about plans to “clean the park”—the site of the Wall Street protests—tomorrow starting at 7am. “Cleaning” was used as a pretext to shut down “Bloombergville” a few months back, and to shut down peaceful occupations elsewhere.

Bloomberg says that the park will be open for public usage following the cleaning, but with a notable caveat: Occupy Wall Street participants must follow the “rules”. These rules include, “no tarps or sleeping bags” and “no lying down.”

So, seems likely that this is their attempt to shut down #OWS for good.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION:

1) Call 311 and tell Bloomberg to support our right to assemble and to not interfere with #OWS. If you are calling from outside NY use this number 212-NEW-YORK.

2) Come to #OWS on FRIDAY AT 6AM to defend the occupation from eviction.

Occupy Wall Street is committed to keeping the park clean and safe — we even have a Sanitation Working Group whose purpose this is. We are organizing major cleaning operations today and will do so regularly.

If Bloomberg truly cares about sanitation here he should support the installation of portopans and dumpsters. #OWS allies have been working to secure these things to support our efforts.

We know where the real dirt is: on Wall Street. Billionaire Bloomberg is beholden to bankers.

We won’t allow Bloomberg and the NYPD to foreclose our occupation. This is an occupation, not a permitted picnic.

NOTICE OF CLEANING AND UPKEEP OPERATIONS TO COMMENCE FRIDAY OCTOBER 14, 2011

To Whom It May Concern:
Please be advised that we will be conducting deferred cleaning and maintenance in Zuccotti Park on Friday, October 14th. In the past three weeks we have been unable to perform our normal daily upkeep operations. As a result, and particularly because of the heavy and continuous park usage during this time, conditions in the Park have deteriorated presenting health and cleanliness issues which must be addressed.

We intend to proceed to clean the Park in sections so that one-third of the Park will be cleaned at a time while the remaining portions of the Park can continue to be used. Cleaning operations will commence on the western portion (Church Street) of the Park at 7:00 AM, and Brookfield representatives will be in the Park to delineate each of the areas being cleaned. It will be necessary for the public to leave the portion of the Park being cleaned while cleaning operations are underway, and to remove any possessions from the area being cleaned. Any possessions left in an area when it is ready to be cleaned will be considered to have been left there because they have been abandoned and they will be disposed of accordingly.

We anticipate that it will take approximately 4 hours to clean each section of the Park. Once a section has been cleaned, it will be re-opened to the public for lawful use consistent with our regulations. For your information, a copy of Brookfield’s regulations governing the use of the Park is attached to this Notice.

NOTICE
ZUCCOTTI PARK IS A PRIVATELY-OWNED SPACE THAT IS DESIGNED AND INTENDED FOR USE AND ENJOYMENT BY THE GENERAL PUBLIC FOR PASSIVE RECREATION.

FOR THE SAFETY AND ENJOYMENT OF EVERYONE, THE FOLLOWING TYPES OF BEHAVIOR ARE PROHIBITED IN ZUCCOTTI PARK:

CAMPING AND/OR THE ERECTION OF TENTS OR OTHER STRUCTURES.

LYING DOWN ON THE GROUND, OR LYING DOWN ON BENCHES, SITTING AREAS OR WALKWAYS WHICH UNREASONABLY INTERFERES WITH THE USE OF BENCHES, SITTING AREAS OR WALKWAYS BY OTHERS.

THE PLACEMENT OF TARPS OR SLEEPING BAGS OR OTHER COVERING ON THE PROPERTY.

STORAGE OR PLACEMENT OF PERSONAL PROPERTY ON THE GROUND, BENCHES, SITTING AREAS OR WALKWAYS WHICH UNREASONABLY INTERFERES WITH THE USE OF SUCH AREAS BY OTHERS.